GRC Report Staff

Australia’s financial regulator has filed two major Federal Court actions alleging that SQM Research and Interprac Financial Planning failed in their gatekeeping duties, contributing to widespread losses tied to the Shield Master Fund and First Guardian Master Fund. The coordinated actions demonstrate the ASIC’s growing pressure on research houses, licensees, and intermediaries responsible for steering Australians into high-risk investment products.

The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets is sounding the alarm on what it calls a “treacherous” sense of calm across global markets. In its Trend Monitor 2026 report and a separate deep dive on scenario thinking, the regulator warns that the stability seen in recent years is resting on an uneasy balance that could tip with little warning.

The European Parliament has taken a big step toward scaling back the EU’s corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence regime, voting on Thursday to streamline the rules and significantly narrow the number of companies that will need to comply.

‍New Zealand’s privacy regulator is sounding the alarm as privacy complaints and serious breach notifications surge across the country. In its latest Annual Report, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner warned that New Zealanders’ rising anxiety about personal data isn’t just theoretical anymore, it reflects a real increase in harm.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance is stepping back into gear after the federal government shutdown, and its first order of business is tackling the more than 900 registration statements that piled up while the lights were off. To help issuers understand what happens next, the Division has released new guidance that outlines how filings submitted during the shutdown will move forward now that staff are back at their desks.

The Financial Reporting Council has released its final assessment of how UK-listed companies report under the 2018 Corporate Governance Code, and the picture that emerges is one of boards becoming more comfortable using the Code’s flexibility rather than hiding from it.

The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into whether Google is complying with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) after signs emerged that the company may be pushing news publishers’ content lower in search results. The case marks one of the most significant early tests of how far the EU will go in enforcing the bloc’s landmark digital competition rules.